Hi Faith
If he was on a passenger list then he would have had to have enlisted in South Africa. Regular troops and the Boer War-only mounted infantry - Imperial Yeomanry and the like, who enlisted in the UK - would have travelled on troop ships and are not listed on passenger lists.
Lots of men made their own way to SA as they could enlist in one of the 60-100 irregular regiments created for the Boer War and receive five shillings a day, which was about four times the pay of a Private in a British infantry regiment.
We have two problems. Firstly, the medal rolls only give initials, and secondly, the SA based regiments enlistment papers are not as yet searchable. If you search the medal roll on Ancestry you get a total of 46 J Mackie's. Some had middle initials, but even if you eliminate them plus the Regular troops, you are left with a large number who served in SA-raised regiments. The attestation forms for these are in the National Archives, so you will have to visit and check the age/place of birth/NoK information.
The records for pre-existing SA police regiments are in South Africa.
btw...Men often did a six or 12 month enlistment and then either re-enlisted in the same regiment or changed to a new regiment. So there may be more than one attestation form.
If you him on a return passenger list it may help to eliminate a few on the list. As a man returning in say 1901 would not feature on the medal roll with a 1902 South Africa clasp. You can also eliminate men who received a clasp for a battle/siege that took place before he arrived.
Ken
